conflict would argue that the late Mr. Yitzhaq Rabin was not a pro-peace and pro-Israel. In fact, for years, "peace-now" type folks have been raising the Rabin flag high, very high, worldwide. Perhaps the pro-Hagel should realize what this peace-loving pragmatist former prime minister of Israel had in mind. He drew his view of a contour for peace at his last speech at the Knesset, 5 October 1995, the main points follow:
1) Jerusalem will remain united under Israel's sovereignty and will also include the suburbs of Giv'at Zeev and Ma'aleh Adumim (and, of course, area E1 which connects Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim, JBI).
2) All major Jewish settlement blocs will be incorporated into the sovereign state of Israel (including Gush Etzion, Beit-El/Ofra, Efrat, Gush Qatif in Gaza, etc. JBI).
3) The Jordan Valley ought to be viewed in the widest sense of the term and it too will remain under Israel's rule.
4) The future Palestinian state will not be a regular one in that it will be totally demilitarized, its airspace will be fully controlled by Israel's as will its boundaries and all of its border passes: land, sea and air.
One would also add that no Jews will be expelled from their villages and towns, regardless of whether those locales are within Israel's sovereign territory or within the territory governed by the Palestinian state. After all, Israel also has Arab villages and towns within it, hence why "cleanse" the future Palestinian state of its Jewish residents?
Perhaps, Mr. Kerry, all of us should learn a thing or two from Mr. Rabin's approach to peace-making. After all, he received his Nobel Peace Prize for his vision.
Jehudah Ben-Israel
Qatzrin, Israel

First my congratulations for your nomination as secretary of state. This article says that you support Israel, but not its settlements in the so-called West Bank. I also learned that you are a graduate of the university of Yale. I do not know if you are aware, but a certain Prof. Eugene Rostow, Dean of the School of Law at your university (Yale), by the way author, together with Lord Caradon of UNSC Resolution 242, wrote as expert in International Law, some relevant articles about the "settlements". I quote a few lines from an article written by Rostow, called, "Are the settlements legal ? Israeli West Bank policies". "...Yet the Jews have the same right to settle there (West Bank) as they have to settle in Haifa...the Jewish right of settlement in Palestine west of the Jordan River, that is, in Israel, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip (article written in October 1991), was made unassailable. That right has never been terminated and cannot been terminated except by a recognized peace between Israel and its neighbors. And perhaps not even then, in view of Article 80 of the UN Charter, "the Palestine article", which provides that "nothing in the Charter shall be construed... to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any people or the terms of existing international instruments..."

He doesn't like the settlements? We don't care. You'll support us anyways. So keep condemning them, we'll eventually just draw the borders how we want and tell the rest of the world even the US to just F off if they don't support us.

Knee-Jerk liberal will eternally blast Israel, demand "land-for-peace", look the other way at Palestinian savage behavior, seek fame for being a "peace-maker" , reject Israel's historic connection to the land, expect Israel to act rationally while apologizing for Arab insanity, weaken the US 's position globally, let terrorists slide and condemn US for being too overbearing and castigate our allies for"human rights "abuses" while lamely attempting to create dialogue with our enemies. Clinton was pathetic. Kerry is as dangerous as know-it-all liberals like Livni who forever want to prove they and their mad political experiments are "RIGHT..after ALL!!!!".

OK, so he is "pro-Israel" and "against the settlements" but why hasn't he CONDEMNED Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for his Antisemitic Nazi statements, like "Jew Free Palestine" and the Hitler like utterances of his Prime Minister, Ismael Haniya, and Khaled Mashaal " We will kill the Zionists and the Jews" and "Palestine is from the Sea to the Jordan River"?
The Jewish groups in the USA don't have to live here and face the threat of Hamas/Hezbollah missiles, terrorists from the West Bank and Gazastan every day! Maybe Senator Kerry should ask Prime Minister Netanyahu to show him the photos of the massacre of the Vogel family in Itamar, carried out by terrorists supported by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whom President Obama views as a "partner for Peace"!
The East Jerusalem Building plans are NOT the issue. This real issue is Israel's survival and that is something that United States Administrations have never really understood. They just do not understand is that the only way there can be peace is for the Arabs to STOP KILLING JEWS and threatening our people with extinction. To see that you do not have to be a right-winger or a left-winger, you just need common sense which seems to be in very short supply in Washington, New York, London, Paris and Brussels!

Rabin was the Prime Minister of all the people of Israel except for a few who were too stupid to see where he was going and they killed him!
Prime Minister Netanyahu, with all his great speeches, is not the Prime Minister of ALL Israelis, but of the right wing and of the fools who cannot see beyond their noses, like some in his Cabinet.
Netanyahu is obsessed with being Prime Minster but doesn't realize that if would stop kowtowing to a tiny minority of right wing fanatics and stop pouring taxpayers money into "illegal" settlements and consolidate the legal ones in Judea and Samaria, he would not have to give in to to extortion of the Ultra-Orthodox, because he would have huge support from MOST Zionist Israelis!
Sad, but there are none so blind as those who will not see or is Bibi just a religious fanatic in secular clothing?

So why even bother pointing out that the new American Secretary of State opposes them? The whole world opposes them. Why? Because they are a major stumbling block in the creation of a viable Palestinian state. And a viable Palestinian state is the only thing that will stop endless conflict between us and the Palestinians.
I now expect the usual pissing and moaning from the usual suspects endlessly reiterating their hyper-nationalistic propaganda.
Sometimes I fear we're becoming like the Serbs in the late 1990s (before the NATO bombing.) They fully believed they had a legal and historical right to Kosovo and various parts of Bosnia and Croatia. Their military was dominate and easily able to enforce their dictates as well as move other (less desirable) people wherever they wanted. They were riding very high as they took city after city, thinking they were carving out a future Greater Serbia for themselves.
Then their arrogance pushed the international community too far.
I wonder when the international community (especially the US) will reach this point with us....

Why do you sympathize with the Croatians? They allied with Germany during the second world war. It was the Serbs who fought on the side of the Allies. After Yugoslavia was conquered by Nazi forces, the "Croat leaders (whose side you take) embarked on a campaign of extermination of Serbs, Jews, Roma, Croats who opposed the regime, communists and large numbers of Josip Broz Tito's Partisans by setting up a number of death camps."

The very title of the article sounds like spin directed by Obama. You can't be pro Israel and be anti settlements because your saying Israel has no right to secure and recognized borders or Jerusalem. Your basically for 67 borders.

One your wrong many Israelis do. Second your wrong many people outside Israel do support settlements also. I don't believe your actually Israeli and if you are you have never been outside Israel or faced Anti Semitism.

It really is a sign of the times when we have such a backwards view on our world. At the moment here in the America we have had the most radical change in our government since the revolution. The problem is America voted for it. This Country is going down fast and liberals are the ones taking it down at the moment.

of the “Pals”. They have said they will not accept Israel’s right to exist. They have said they will never give up until they get everything(!) they want. They play bad-cop, good-cop between the PA (some “good-cop”, LOL) and Hamas. They both still teach their kids that it is good to kill Jews, that Jews are to be destroyed, etc. They try to co-opt Jewish history and sites (there never was a Temple?!). Their arrogance pushes Israelis to push back, and rightly so. Read what they themselves write; listen to what they say; then post.

His grandparents from his father's sider were Jews from Vienna and Budapest (former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy). His father committed suicide, he is practicing Catholic, his brother converted to Judaism, to get back the family's roots.
Despite of all this, we don't trust him. He is a left-wing pro-peace activist. He will support the Palestinian cause and act against Israeli interests related to keeping Jerusalem as a united capital city of Israel. This person has a "Woodstock heart". He will be worst than H. Clinton. Israel should make it clear the Americans, that the Jewish State won't give up anything of its eternal capital city. Kerry's grandparents (the Kohn (!) family) would certainly not give up Jerusalem!

the following facts : 1. Jerusalem is united and can not be partitioned. 2. The settlements are the keys for Israel's security. Without them defendless. There are other options I have mentioned earlier, for instance Egypt and Jordan's confederation with palestinians.

He was in Veitnam, never saw a day of active combat, returned to the USA, blasting the American Military & returned the Medals he hadn't earned in the first -place
He didn't love America then, why would he love Israel now?
Hillary approves, another reason to reject him

If he demanded that the USA returned the land it had stolen from the Native American Indians, killing millions of them in the process
Let's not forget, California & Tecas, give them back to Mexico
Kerr is very generous with the property of Israel,

are main impediment to peace.One could argue that any intransigence of Abbas is due to this and a result of the hopelessness that they feel.By our own intransigence we are weakening Abbas so that Hamas will take over in occupied lands.Then we will be surrounded by rockets,Ben Gurion airport will be in their sights,and only then will Netanyahu realise(maybe?) that to try to maintain the status quo by military might alone will put us in a worse position.
I am aware of the Arab maps not showing Israel,but feel that our seemingly invincible mindset may help the wish fulfillment of our enemies.

Your stupid reply can only be seen as you are one of those who cannot see what is happening to Israel. The country has never been so divided by hatred which you seem to relish in!
Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel and will not be divided except by hatred which will destroy our country, the one and only home of the Jewish people!
Instead of showing your ignorance just think of what will happen your country if the USA one day decides to abstain on a vote of sanctions prosed by the Islamaphobic EU and supported by Russia and China? If you are on the other side of political divide, then just think of what will happen if we give up our sovereignty of Jerusalem due to radical leftist pressure?
Thje world has to see that we have a Government which is strong and has the support of the people and not just a certain sector! That is where Bibi has failed. He has never heard of United We Stand, Divided We Fall.
Wake up and smell the roses and if your can, look further than your nose at the hate campaign conducted by the left and assisted by the right!